Teaching and Learning

They were not designed for use as standalone tools with any pupil working on their own, but were designed to be as adaptable to the needs of the teacher and pupils together in explaining concepts in mathematics and numeracy.

Features

Each tool has a similar interface for ease of use by the teacher. This includes an on-screen help guide – so as a teacher hovers over any item it is explained. There is the option to display or hide elements, meaning only the element required for the teaching point is necessary to display (or to reveal as it becomes relevant to the teaching and learning process). The control panel can be shifted from left-hand to right-hand side, with use with an interactive whiteboard or other display device having been inherent in design of the tools. Feedback (such as numerical data) can be kept hidden or revealed so that in the process of teaching the teacher can guide the pupil to work out an expected answer, which the pupil can reveal to provide confirming feedback.

Help Guides

For each tool there is an extensive helpguide available as a pdf for viewing either on-screen or printing out. These tools are designed to support the teaching and learning process with a teacher guiding a pupil, group or class of pupils, through their learning, and a pace appropriate to them. They are incredibly flexible tools so can be used at many stages in primary school.

Where can you access these resources?

These resources are no longer available from the Department for Education’s own website but are available from the following links:

Primary National Numeracy Strategy Interactive Teaching Programs – this site take you straight to the list of programs, click on chosen program which will take you to a Guide for that specific tool which will start in the browser on clicking “Run..” in the top right corner of each page. The guide for the complete range of tools can be accessed as a PDF from the “ITP Guide” link on the main page. If you wish to download the programs for use offline (perhaps to embed in the likes of SMART Notebook software to be included in a sequence of support materials for a lesson), then instead of clicking on the program to run any tool, simply right-click on one, and choose “save target as” to save the file to your computer (as a flash swf file) which can then be dragged into SMART Notebook to run from there without the need to be online.

If your classroom has a SMART Board in it then a huge wealth of resources is available free to you online, making use of the SMART Board’s own interactive software, SMART Notebook, at SMART Exchange. This lets you browse through thousands of resources created by teachers worldwide, or you can filter your search to resources suitable for a specific yeargroup or teaching stage, or classroom activities, a curricular area, or by your own country’s curriculum – so, for example, Scottish Teachers can find resources to support experiences and outcomes within the Curriculum for Excellence.

SMART Notebook software combines a straightforward presentation tool with a host of interactive elements to help support the engagement of pupils with the topic being taught. And SMART Notebook software resources can be adapted by teachers to the needs of their own learners. SMART Exchange, in addition to the wealth of teaching resources just waiting to be donwloaded and used in the classroom, also provides links to how-to guides to using a SMART Board more effectively, and a forum for teachers to share tips and ideas.

And if you don’t have SMART Notebook software on your computer where you are viewing the resources you can still make use of them by using SMART Notebook Express all online.

In order for an interactive whiteboard to become more than simply a projection board, a teacher with a SMART Board interactive whiteboard needs to know how to make use of the interactive features of a SMART Board. And in order to become comfortable in using these tools this site http://www.fuuni.com/smart/smart provides for teachers an easily accessible series of bite-sized videos on specific tasks. So when you need to know how to do a specific task you can quickly find the appropriate video and watch just that video. Each video is only a few minutes in length so is straightforward to get going with just what is needed. Beside the title of each video the length of the video is indicated.

When that skill is embedded there are ideas for moving on to make greater use of the interactive features of the SMART Board. It’s when the interactive features of a SMART Board are used in the classroom that many teachers find the biggest benefits to learning and teaching in their classrooms.

Short task-specific video tutorials are provided for using your SMART Board interactive whiteboard.

These are grouped under categories and then listed as tasks you might wish to need to do. Each tutorial title indicates the length of each tutorial. These cover the following:

The Getting Started category includes Get to know your board, How to Check if the Notebook software is installed, Where to Download Notebook from the SMART website, how to Install Notebook on your computer, and how to Find the serial number on your board to activate the full version of the software. It’s worth noting here that SMART Notebook software is free to download to anyone, and the full version is downloadable. However until a user puts in a serial number the software is a time-limited trial version only. This means teachers with a SMART Board in their school can download the software for home use – they just need to have the serial number from their SMART Board.

The Getting Connected category includes videos on how to Connect the cables, and what the status lights mean.

The section on Using Your Computer In A Whole New Way includes orienting the board, Using the onscreen keyboard, right-clicking, and using Ink Aware in Word and PowerPoint. Ink Aware is a neat feature for using Word documents or Powerpoint presentations where the teacher can use the pen tool to write on a Word/Powerpoint document on the SMART Board and then, using Ink Aware, instantly convert it to text within the Word document. This applies to images drawn onto the board too where Ink Aware lets you add them as embedded images in Word/Powerpoint.

A Whiteboard But Smarter – in this category there are videos showing how to Open the Notebook software, Get to know the interface and wide range of tools, Write on the whiteboard, Move and resize your writing, Convert your writing to text, Type text into Notebook, Draw simple shapes using the shape recognition pen, Draw complex shapes using the shapes tool, Fill shapes with colour, and how to Share your created files with pupils and colleagues.

In the final category of video tutorials you will find videos on Creating Engaging Lesson Activities, how to Check if gallery essentials is installed, how to Download and install gallery essentials, an Introduction to the gallery, how to Search for gallery content, how to Browse for gallery content, and where to Find content on the SMART Exchange, Insert content into your lesson, and add your own files to your own My content area.

http://www.fuuni.com/smart/smart is one of many other sites which provide video tutorials on using a SMART Board in an interactive way to support learning and teaching in classrooms.

A visualiser (sometimes called a document camera) lets a teacher display something small to a whole class via a PC and projector. This means that a teacher can demonstrate to a whole class something which would be difficult to show to a whole class without the whole class gathered round a table vying for space to see the demonstration. A visualiser provides a means to take a piece of work from a pupil and immediately show it to a whole class, perhaps highlighting particular features or small details of the work.

In addition to simply creating an enlarged view of any object, visualiser software also enables a teacher to take snapshot pictures of whatever features may wish to be highlighted for later viewing or sharing elsewhere. Video recordings of the activity or process involved in creating or changing a piece of work can also be made for replaying as required. These videos can be replayed via the PC or on interactive whiteboard or embedded on a website or blog.

The TTS Easi-View visualiser combines an ease of use with a price within reach of primary schools (around £88 at time of posting). It can be used with an interactive whiteboard, you can view documents (pupil work or books), share work with the rest of the class, and pupils can use it to let the whole class see small objects brought in for show-and-tell activities. When combined with a laptop and projector at whole-school assemblies it can be used to ensure everyone can see details of small objects. The picture snapshot or video recording tool provides a means to create portfolios for evidence of learning. When combined with stop-motion animation software (such as SAM Animation software) it can be used to create stopframe animations. Note that less expensive visualisers like this have poorer resolution and refresh rate than more expensive models, menaing that images will be less crisp, and movement of objects will be slightly blurred in comparison to more expensive visualisers. It would always be wise to think about the purpose to which the tool will be put and comparison made to ensure the chosen device will meet the need.

For a visualiser producing a higher quality image, which would work well in a classroom situation, you may also wish to consider the Elmo MO-1 . The video below gives a demonstration of this visualiser.

There is a wide range of suppliers of visualisers/document cameras and a range of models from each. Generally the less expensive models will have poorer resolution so that detail will be less crisp, and the refresh rate will be such that movement of objects will be more blurred. As models get more expensive so they add crispness and clarity to images for zooming in or recording video. Each model add further features, with additional cost. Some models will plug and play without additional software needing to be installed while others will require the dedicated software on the PC. So the choice is for the school.

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This blog is maintained by Malcolm Wilson, ICT Curriculum Development Officer for Falkirk Council Children's Services. The purpose of the blog is to help support primary teachers within Falkirk primary schools in their use of ICT across teaching and learning.

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